A Christmas Vacation in the City

Dear Readers,

I have posted a little Christmas story on my Instagram account so I wanted to share this as well on my blog for those who don't have Instagram!  The first dollhouse I bought after my daughter was born was a dollhouse from Calico Critters/Sylvanian Families and I still love this brand very much.  The animal figures are adorable and I wanted to share my love for these toys by creating a photo story with them.  I have also included toys from the Playmobil company and miniature from Re-ment.

The Norwood Mouse Family live in a cozy cottage in the countryside.

A few days before Christmas, the Norwood Mouse Family gets a call. Their cousins are inviting them to come over for the holidays

Mommy mouse hurriedly picks a few vegetables from her garden as gifts to her cousins. 

Far away in the city, the Milky Mouse family is getting ready to welcome their cousins for the Christmas holidays.

The Milky Mouse Family are gathering in the living room to light the Christmas tree.

At last the Norwood Mouse Family arrives!

“Fresh vegetables? Thank you ! It’s so sweet of you! But my family prefer cookies and cupcakes.

“This is your room ? I never want to leave this place!"

“Let’s watch the World Cup and play video games after! Best vacation ever!”

After a very exciting evening, all big and little mice are fast asleep.

Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noël! 

Christmas vacation was so much fun but being away makes you appreciate your own home even more because nothing compares to home! Merry Christmas dear friends! May you enjoy happiness and peace with your loved ones.

 

I hope you have enjoyed this story and I wish you all a very happy holiday season and a happy new year!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid nor received gifts to write this or mention any store or website.  

A Witch Dollhouse

 Dear Readers,

Are you ready for Halloween?  I have costumes ready for the children and I have bags full of candies for the trick-or-treaters!  I also decorated one of my dollhouse for Halloween.  Do you remember Althea? She is a Sweet Spell Scarlet Petite Blythe doll for which I didn't have a dollhouse yet.  So this year, I decided to give her a house. 

I rummaged through my storage to find the Bear Store from Maple Town and paired it with furniture from Calico Critters (aka Sylvanian Families).  I used to watch Maple Town Japanese cartoons (Les Petits Malins pour les Francophones - merci à Mes Vladeries pour me rappeler le titre en Français!) when I was little and there were many dollhouses with furniture and figures back in the days.  They are about the same size as Calico Critters but the brand discontinued.   

The miniatures are from Re-ment Witch's House collection which was released in April 2021.  There are so many beautiful items in this collection!

Photo from Re-ment

Here is Althea showing you her new home.  She is wearing her original outfit which consists of a dress, apron, cat ears and tail and she also has a broom and hat which are not showing in my pictures.  She wears a collar with a little bell that does jingle faintly when you shake it.

The dollhouse is just the perfect height for her and has plenty of room to display all her books and tools to brew potions.  I use the tree trunk tables from the old school set by Calico Critters Epoch.

For the bedroom, the burgundy and brown bed and dining set from Calico Critters were just perfect for a witch house.  I especially like the bedding which also had a pillow in the same color palette.

Althea can finally have a very cozy house!  Her pet cat and owl will be keeping watch while she sleep!

Do you like Althea's house?  Do you remember the Maple Town cartoons?  I am so happy I kept this dollhouse although it was so old.  

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid nor received gifts to write this or mention any store or website.  

The Calico Critters Deluxe Celebration Home

 Dear Readers,

The Calico Critters Deluxe Celebration Home is the 35th Anniversary Limited Edition Dollhouse released by this Japanese company which is also known as Sylvanian Families in the rest of the world.

Like all dollhouses from this company, it comes already built except for a few additions like the window frames or balcony railings.  It has a beautiful light pink exterior with a blue roof and green doors.

It features 3 floors so it is very spacious.

A very special element in this house is the elevator that you can move up and down by turning the weathervane located on top of the dollhouse.  The elevator door opens and closes automatically when you reach a floor.

This dollhouse includes many furniture and even two Persian Cat sister figures.

Photo from Calico Critters

These are the three floors on the Right Side.

These are the three floors on the Left Side.

Kitchen

I decorated the kitchen with a separate furniture set from Calico Critters because the kitchen island that was included in the dollhouse was not enough to fill the room (although it did include many beautiful items like the toaster oven, scale, grill and mixer).

Living Room

The living room is decorated entirely with the furniture included in the dollhouse.  The sofa chairs and tables are a very unique sage green color.  

Lounge Room

I created a lounge room with another living room set from Calico Critters.  It comes with a TV, coffee table with a teapot and two cups and saucers, a lamp, a magazine rack, and two big sofa chairs.

Bathroom

The bathroom set was not included in the dollhouse.  I had to furnish it with a separate set from Calico Critters.   The ceiling lamp was also purchased separately from the dollhouse.

Kids Room

The kids room comes with bunk beds and a piano with two chairs.

Main Bedroom

The vanity is included in this dollhouse (with the same sage green color as the living room set) but the bed and bedside table are from another set.

That's just how I decorated the house but you can of course make it completely different by changing the furniture. And you know I'll be changing things in a short while!  That's part of the fun of having a dollhouse.  

Another thing you can modify is how the house looks because since it comes in 3 separate units, you can change the look of the house by placing the units in different positions.

Pros:

• Dollhouse is already built
• The elevator goes up and down
• Includes  many furniture
• Includes two figures
• Many possible house combination designs

Cons:

• Does not include the lights
• Does not include a whole family
• Does not include a bathroom
• Does not include a full kitchen

I did enjoy the fact that I didn't have to spend 5 hours building this dollhouse like I had to do for the Playmobil dollhouse but this one has a few drawbacks of course.  For example, the lamps are not included with this set and even if they were included, the lights from Calico Critters are not very bright and so they cannot illuminate the house well like a Playmobil home.

How do you like this dollhouse?  

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid nor received gifts to write this or mention any store or website.  

The Playmobil Fantasy Princess Castle

 Dear Readers,

I got this Playmobil Fantasy Princess Castle (5142) a few years ago.  I nicknamed it the Swan Castle because it contained many swan symbols (on the flag, in the shape of the throne chair, the window design, etc).     

Playmobil is a brand that I have loved since I was a child and is still one of my favorite because their toys are very well made and although the buildings take a long time to assemble, they are sturdy and feature realistic details; for example, you can open most doors and windows and the furniture and decorative items are appropriate for the theme at hand.  Playmobil offers many type of medieval castle/buildings but I prefer the princess castles so I chose the Fantasy Castle.

It’s an enormous structure with a tall turret, a grandiose staircase and spacious rooms.  It took 3 hours to build.  Although the castle comes with detailed instructions, the assembly is still a tedious process.  I furnished the castle with Playmobil items I had from previous sets

Dollhouse furniture from other brands can work well with Playmobil too.  Like the ones from Sofia the First because they are about the same scale and the color palette from Sofia the First blends well with the Playmobil castle.

There is a balcony above the front gates which is also a connector between the two sections of the castle.

Some of the windows have a lovely swan design and can open and close.

The top floor also has a big spacious room with windows.

Another type of furniture that fits well in the castle are the Calico Critters (aka Sylvanian Families) like the bed in the picture below.

There is a revolving dance floor on which you can put the figures to make them swirl around to "dance".   

The Princess Fantasy Castle includes the following items:

• two figures (a prince and princess)
• 1 throne chair
• 2 chairs
• 1 long chaise
• 1 chandelier
• 1 tea set
• 1 pitcher with a plate
• 6 clear goblets
• flower bushes
• 1 little pond
• 2 black kittens
• 1 dragonfly
• 1 butterfly
• 2 apples
• 1 life-size jewelry box wih
• life-size tiara, bracelet and ring

Picture by Playmobil

Here below is my pros and cons list.

Pros:

• There are many rooms
• A gate is included
• Some windows can open
• The winding staircase is covered with a soft carpet

Cons:

• It took a long time to assemble
• Not many furniture is included
• The castle is very large and irregular in size
• It does not fit well on a narrow table

The children had a lot of fun staging fights between the princes and the dragon or having elegant ballroom dances.  It is a really beautiful castle that lends to many play scenarios!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid or received gifts to write this or mention any store or website.  

New Furniture for the Playmobil Dollhouse

 Dear Readers,

I made a few changes to the Playmobil Suburban Dollhouse. I changed a few furniture sets, added a guest room and a grandparent's bedroom, removed the sewing room and piano room, and merged the children's room into one room. 

This is floor 2 and 3.

This is Floor 1 and 2.

And these are the rooms on the side of the house.

I replaced the living room with a the Comfortable Living Room (70207).  This set includes a grandpa and baby and also a modern fireplace that can light up.

The nursery furniture set (70210) is so cute and came with a grandma and a baby.

Bedroom 9271 will be for the parents and I placed it next to the nursery.  It came with a light too but since I already have ceiling light in the dollhouse, I put the light aside for another dollhouse.

The Grandparents are now living with the rest of the family and their bedroom is on the highest floor.  I am using bedroom set 5309 and the bedside lamps can light up.

The bathroom was changed to the Vintage Bathroom Set 5307.

I moved the Children's Bed into one single room, next to the side balcony.  I had to remove a few of the furniture like the shelves and the toys (so many toys!!!!).

I added a guest room near the patio.  I used the Modern Bedroom Set 5583 because it was a small set and included a big round bed which I found quite fun for a guest room.  It came with a man wearing slippers and a surprising bottle of champagne.

The kitchen remains the same but I moved it from the second floor to the first floor.

Do you like the new dollhouse furniture?  I think I still might change the bedrooms in the future but I am glad to have grandparents figures in my collection so I had to include a space for them in the dollhouse!  The next addition will be furniture for the balconies!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid or received gifts to write this or mention any store or website.